Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1887-07-21
My First Playmate.
BY AUGUSTA MOORE.
Fair be the skies above thee,
Friend of my earliest days,
knew thee but to lore thee,
inn | nnmr lhpr hut to nraisr

And name thee hut to praise
When We stand upon the summit OF
life's steep and slippery hill, and glance
backwards, along the path by which
we have been led hitherto, it is enough
to Sadlen the lightest heart, to note the
numberltss broken ties, to remember
the many .or.owful farewell words that
have rendered painful our past plgrim-
age.
As we look longer at the path be
hind Us, We catch s'impscs Of once lov-
cd forms and faces, we hear the tones
Of the glad and pleasant voices Of the
friends of old, and we see again the
spot where the last parting was made
with one and another of the tried and
true, who had thus far been our COM
panions, but whose life path led anoth-
er way, to cross Our own no more.
And here and there along the way
We see the Graves, to whose keeping We
committed with many tears, those we
could keep no longer from the earth $
cold bosom. All, those graves. we
have journeyel on and left them; our
hands may not keep the sods above the
forms they cover fresh and green, but
we see them still, and .he trust that
each ore holds is remembered well.
Ana still backwards look we, unto
childhoou' : earliest time. Of all the
youthful friends that our llte's morn-
ing knew, is there not one W ho seems
nearer, who was dearer than all ?
The first playmate is generally the
one remembered longest and loved the
best and the first and dearest play
mate of my childhood was Mary Reed.
The simple and uDprctendlng name
touches % tender chord in my world
worn heart, which no other can reach.
1t has look of home lowering, like
halo, about it, and its utterance is, for
me, signal for the awakening of some
Of the sweetest aud purest memories of
my life.
Ny home. in those days, was Il wide
and square built house. in a New Eng
land village, and never was that home
as pleasant to me as when Mary was
there.
In the grove at some distance back
of the house, we used to have fine sport,
until one day we both became terribly
frightened at something which, to our
excited imignations, looked like half
man, half bear, which growled upon us
from tree, and seemed to be prepar-
ing to come down. Mary was several
years Older than !, and could run much
faster, but not Il step would she stir
without me. How we ever reached
home | cannot tell, but we never visit.
ed the grove again, nor did we ever dis.
cover the nature Of the beast BY which
we were so terrified
Onr vide, old mansion, With it. pleas
ant hall (runnlng the whole length of
tke house, y its painted floors, large, Good
parlor, and pictured walls, was plc@s-
ant dwelling.
The parlcr vas fayorite place of
resort for Mary and /. It's walls were
covered with pictured groups Of Shep-
herds watching their sleep, with the
faces of both shepherds and sheep we
were wei, acquainted and with several
Of them We cultivated a peculiar init
macy.
There was to me sort OF sacredncss
abou. thvse little pastoral groups, arls'
inc from the fact Of my having always
associated them with what my mother
had to,j me f tie Saviour, as a >hoN-
nerd or. as lyin. h.Msci: gentle and